Trillium furnace issues

[dleverton]

I have a (Duo Therm 66012-005) furnace under the curb side settee of my Trillium 1300. Also, I have built a semi permanent queen size bed which makes the furnace difficult to access. Lighting the pilot on the furnace is at best an ordeal, but if the pilot blows out on the road or you need to shut the propane off, the ordeal is repeated. I thought about adding an electronic igniter, but that still leaves the issue of standing on your head under the bed to turn and press the knob in order to latch the pilot on. Lately I have been thinking about fabricating levers and pulleys to control the knob remotely, and it may come to that.
Does anyone have any ideas of what modern electronically ignited (no pilot), type furnace might fit, or any ideas regarding conversion of the old Duo Therm to a modern no pilot system? Once lit the Duo Therm works very well and I have resolved the air distribution, so I'm fond of the old beast, except when the pilot needs relighting.


Doug

[Randy J.]

We have a 1976 Trillium 1300 that still had the original old gravity-fed propane heater. Not sure if it was the same as yours but I decided to scrap mine. Gravity feed hasn't been considered safe since around 1980. And when I removed the heater to examine it I found the exhaust pipe to be badly corroded and half full of mud-wasp nests. Etc. It was time to recycle it! The moral is, if you're going to keep an old appliance, be sure it is safe. We get by quite well without it, using a small electric heater and powered campsites in the cooler weather.

A company called Propex makes an interesting propane heater that would fit and I think heat a small trailer very well. It isn't cheap, but around the same price as any replacement furnace. Have a look here: Propex Heaters

[David Tilston]

Randy, Doug's heater is not a gravity furnace, but a forced air model, as detailed in this thread:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ace-71351.html


I wish I had something to offer Doug, but I don't. I doubt that modifications to this furnace will be practical. Best of luck.

[dleverton]

RANDY
Thanks for the safety suggestion, I have had it out and it seems solid. And, thanks for the lead on the replacement unit, it does look like a nice unit.
DAVID
Thanks for your thoughts.

I think I'll pull it out again and at least install a piezo igniter, and make sure the pilot jet is clean and my propane pressure is reasonable. If I can get it to stay lit while parked I'll just have to do the acrobatic number once a trip.


Doug